Picking a Hospital

We've been busy touring hospitals in an attempt to choose a hospital for our delivery. We're lucky to have the option of delivering at any one of three good Twin Cities hospitals: Abbott, St. Johns and Regions. We have now toured all three and selected Regions. The hospital philosophy on deliveries matched well with what we had been thinking and our favorite midwife at the practice delivers babies at Regions. I will be encouraged to walk around during labor, take a bath if that sounds helpful, and I will have the option to have something besides ice chips if I get thirsty. Regions also happens to be the closest hospital to our house and we can take city streets the whole way. The trip is less than 10 minutes from door to door. Unfortunately, friends and family will have to pay for parking in the Regions Hospital ramp if they choose to visit. If by some odd chance the Regions Hospital Birth Center is full when I go into labor, we may be redirected to St. Johns (our second choice hospital). So now that we've selected a hospital, we've signed ourselves up for several classes: Childbirth Preparation, Breastfeeding Your Baby, Infant CPR, and New Baby - New Parent. We'll have a busy October and early November with classes 1-2 nights per week.